On
Thursday, January 20, 2011, Tonya Saylor was honored as the State of Florida’s Public Fire
and Life Educator of the Year.Ms.
Saylor has introduced several programs that have become model programs for the
State of Florida.Working with AtlanticHigh School, Ms. Saylor developed a
program whereby students from AtlanticHigh School were involved in
presenting Fire Education Programs in all of the elementary schools in Port Orange.This is just one of many innovative programs
developed for the Public Education Program.

This signal is a LAP (Local Area Projects) project that is funded on a
75% FDOT, 25% City cost share arrangement.The low bid price was below the Engineer’s estimated cost of$230,000and the second bid price of $198,645.88.There was one addendum to the
contract that identified the shade of black required for the mast arm and
clarified the general liability limits.The low bidder acknowledged Addendum 1 in the bid as required in Section
00300-4 and separately by submission of an initialed copy of the Addendum.There is no question whether the bidder
received and submitted their bid based on the bid documents, including addendum
1.The irregularity occurred when the
low bidder failed to circle the Addendum 1 as required on page 00480-1, the
anti-collusion statement.It is staff’s
recommendation that the low bid of Traffic Control Devices be accepted and any
irregularities in the bid documents waived

Funding #312-4300-541-81-10Project # IMIOO4

Attached
is the bid for the Traffic Signal at the intersection of Devon
and Taylor Road.One of the bidders did not acknowledge the
addendum and therefore was deemed to non-responsive.Therefore, it is recommended that the bid be
awarded to Traffic Control Devices, Inc. in the amount of $174,996.00.The City has secured the funds for this
signal through the Transportation Planning Organization.

Staff has
been reviewing the landscape contract which is due to expire March 31, 2011.

Some items
we are in need of direction pertain to whether the City wants to continue to
maintain the County areas within the City without being reimbursed by the
County.These areas are Spruce Creek Road, Clyde Morris Blvd., Taylor Road, Commonwealth Blvd., and part of Madeline Avenue.The savings is about $14,734.00.

Staff has
also been working on several methods to reduce costs as to eliminating mulching
and weeding as well as removing tree pruning from the contract.We are considering reducing the mow
frequencies where possible without jeopardizing appearance and we are looking
into some turf replacement as to the type of grass in order to reduce the need
for chemical spray treatments and mow frequency.

We propose to reduce mow frequencies
as follows: reduce park areas to 32 mows per year (previously 36) and reduce
medians to 24 mows per year (previously 39).Retention ponds will remain at 24 mows per year and right-of-ways will
remain at 18 mows per year.Staff feels
these changes will lead to a substantial savings in our landscape maintenance
contract costs

Contract
will be placed out for bids and staff wishes Council direction and/or opinion
on proposed changes.

This
item is for discussion only.

City Manager Comments: Please look at the level of service
that is discussed.Warren is suggesting changes in frequency of
mowing.Our major thoroughfares set the
tone for the remainder of the City.When
the City allows our property to not meet City adopted standards it sends
messages to other property owners.The
County does not mow its rights of way on the same frequency as the City.Two years ago, the City dropped Clyde Morris Boulevard.The grass along Clyde Morris looked extremely
bad and complaints started coming in.To
date the City has continued to mow grass on Taylor Road, Spruce Creek Road and along parts of Madeline Avenue.Although we are cutting back, there are high
profile areas that need to be the City’s focus.

In an effort to address the
current budgetary concerns, onthe PBA approved an MOU with the City
that temporarily revises Articles 17 and 21 of the PBA collective bargaining
agreement forgoing Sick and Annual Leave Exchange for Pay for fiscal year
2010-2011.This MOU also includes a
provision that Sick and Annual Leave accumulated above the respective maximum
levels will be forfeited by the employee for fiscal year 2010-2011.

Similar MOUs have been agreed to by the PBA Lts., and PEA bargaining
units and Civil Service Employees.

Staff recommends approving the Sick and Annual Leave Exchange for PayMOU with the PBA.

This is a memorandum of understanding between the City of Port Orange and the IAFF
Commander Unit.The Commanders have
agreed to forgo payment for annual hours above 320 and not cash in sick leave
hours for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2010 and ending September 30,
2011.For the fiscal year that starts on
October 1, 2011, the Commanders would have the ability to cash in annual hours
above 320 and sick leave unless mutually agreed to by both parties.The Council has approved the same memorandum
of understanding for our PEA employees and PBA Lieutenants.The same conditions also apply to our Civil
Service covered employees

Staff recommends staff approve the Memorandum of Understanding between
the IAFF Commander Unit and the City of Port
Orange.

The City and the PBA have negotiated and ratified a 2009-2010 collective
bargaining agreement.This collective
bargaining agreement requires changes to the police pension ordinance with
regards to pension benefits and member contributions.

Staff recommends
approval of Ordinance No. 2011-2 amending Chapter 54-122, which revises the
current pension benefits and member contributions in accordance with the
2009-2012 PBA collective bargaining agreement.

City
Council Members Bob Pohlmann and Don Burnette have asked that we discuss a
Regional Fire Service before meeting with other Cities located in Southeast Volusia area.Last year, the southeast Volusia Cities met.The subject was discussed but no consensus
was reached by the governing bodies that attended.Therefore, we continue to operate and
function across City boundaries but continue to maintain the same
organizational structure.I have
attached a memorandum for your review.

Some
weeks ago, I broached the subject of combining the administrative components of
Police and Fire into a Public Safety Department.The savings that could be achieved in such a
combination is approximately $177,000 annually. Because of some retirements, the City has an
excellent opportunity to consider bringing both Police and Fire under one
single Department Head for administrative purposes.The City is not considering the Public Safety
Officer program.In the PSO program an
officer is certified to be a both a police officer and firefighter.The closest department that operates as a
combined department is Daytona Beach Shores.I think it is better for the city of Port Orange to operate in our
current manner rather than having dual certified officers.Our community is different from the Shores. Our call volumes for both Police and Fire are
different from theirs.Having an
operational component for Police and for Fire makes operational sense for the
City of Port Orange.However, it makes
sense to consider a Public Safety Department to handle the administrative
operations for Police and Fire.I have
not included any additional materials in the City Council packet at this time.Before I spend time developing an Administrative
Code proposal for your review, I have one question: does the City Council want
me to develop an administrative code option for the City Council to
consider?If the City Council desires
for me to develop a detailed administrative code option, I will bring it back
to the Council at your February 15th Agenda for your
consideration.In my opinion, it has
merit and has the potential of saving the City money in the upcoming budget
year by reducing authorized strength by two positions (Fire Chief and a clerical
assistant).